So, you are going to start Affiliate Marketing! Great! If you are new to Affiliate Marketing, you are like every other beginner – you know what you want to do, but, you do not have a clear idea of where and how to start.
And do not worry, I have got you covered! In this blog post, I going to share a checklist of the most important activities that you need to do in order to establish yourself as an Affiliate Marketer.
Before I share the checklist, you can download the below PDF and use it for your reference. And, please let me know in the comments how much you scored.
So, if you have downloaded the PDF, pick up a pen and start ticking!!! Here’s the checklist:
Affiliate Disclosure: I, Shubhamjeet Kumar, participate in various affiliate programs, and I will earn a commission on qualifying purchases made through the links on this page at no extra cost to you. I have worked hard to put together items that are high-end and helpful.
(1) Looking to make passive income
- With Affiliate Marketing, you can make a passive income. To make passive income, you would need to put in work initially. So, if you are starting out, please reserve the next 15-20 weekends to set up the systems I will share later in this blog.
- Passive income is to make money even if you are not actively working or involved. And, many would agree with me that to make a passive income, you are required to work up front.
(2) You are clear about your niche
- The second item in the checklist is the passion to change your life. Here, I would like to share a story. My sister worked at a multinational company, where her shift timing changed every month.
- Sometimes she was working from 7 AM to 4 PM, sometimes she was working from 12 PM to 9 PM, sometimes from 9:30 PM to 6:30 PM, and you know what, sometimes she worked longer.
- I saw how she managed her work. Although she hated it, she did not switch. And I made a decision that, no matter what, I will never a corporate slave.
- Even I hated my job! I was frustrated with my job and I would like to thank my “colleagues” for “enouraging” me to leave the job. I wanted to change my life, and I sacrificed every day, every weekend on working towards my goals.
- If you feel the same wrath, and you seriously want to change your life, you may check the second box.
(3) Want to make money from anywhere
- One of my closest friend’s office was in Prabhadevi and he used to live in Virar. I am sure all the Mumbaikars will go “OMG!”. For those of you who are not from Mumbai, the distance between Prabhadevi and Viar is about 74 kilometers. If you were supposed to drive one way, it would take about 1 hour and 40 minutes – on a good day! Imagine driving back-and-forth 5 days a week. Although he was exhausted, he could not do anything about it.
- With Affiliate Marketing, your work is to promote products online so you need not worry about traveling almost 150 kilometers every day.
- You can work from anywhere and whenever you want. You are going to be your boss. No one will tell you what and how to do it.
- You are on a vacation in Spain, no hay problema mi amigo/amiga! You are in Philippines, walang problema! You can work from anywhere you want.
- You can promote products globally from the comfort of your home, or the comfort of that beautiful resort! <3
(4) Want to make money while sleeping
- Imagine this! You check your bank balance at 10:30 PM and you see ₹10,000/- (this is just an example). Then in 30 minutes, you go to bed. You wake up at 7 AM, freshen up, and check your bank balance again. Ta-da! This time, you see ₹14,000/- (again an example). Wouldn’t this be fascinating?
- With Affiliate Marketing, this is possible! With hard work, dedication, passion, and persistence, you can make it happen!
- So, if you want to make money while being in your dreamland, check the box in the checklist.
(5) You are clear about your niche
- According to Shopify, “a niche market is a segment of a larger market that can be defined by its own unique needs, preferences, or identity that makes it different from the market at large. For example, within the market for women’s shoes are many different segments or niches.”
- In very simple words, a niche is a small part of a larger market. For example, yoga is a smaller part of a larger market – fitness.
- In Shopify’s example, “women’s shoes” is a broad market, and “cone heels” is a small segment of that larger market. In other words, ‘cone heels’ is a niche.
- If you want more clarity on niches, you may please read my blog on the topic. Alternatively, you can attend my free training where I teach how you can choose your niche.
(6) Choose a product to promote
- Without a product, you cannot become an Affiliate Marketer. So, after you have finalized your niche, you can look for products that you are interested in.
- A product can be either of the 2 types – physical or digital. A physical product can be shoes, mobile phones, books, etc. and the digital product could be software, course, service, events, etc.
- If you take my suggestion, I would recommend you to promote digital products as the commission rates are higher and you can make recurring income. But, the final decision of choosing the product is up to you.
- So, if you have chosen a product, check the box.
(7) You have your personal website
- Niche selected – Check! The Product selected – Check!
- Now, comes the most crucial item of all – the systems. Although you can promote affiliate products without a website, I would request you to set up the crucial systems to establish authority.
- Systems will help you to leverage your efforts and you can scale quickly if you have the following systems in place:
- Personal Website: Your personal website will be your online shop or your house on the Internet. You can create blogs, post content about the products you are promoting, and provide value.
- To create your website, you will need 3 elements – a CMS (to create your website), the domain name (the address of your website), and hosting (a platform where all your website’s files will be stored).
- You can create a website on WordPress or Square Space. In addition to the CMS, you will need a domain name that will help users to reach your website. For domain names, I recommend NameCheap.
- Thirdly, you will need a hosting platform to store your website’s files. If you have not hosted your website yet, you may utilize the power of the following hosting providers:
(8) You have set up the funnel system
- A sales funnel is the users’ journey across your website from the landing page to the last page. For example, you bring the users on page A where there is a form.
- Users fill the form, submit it, and go to page B, where you share information, provide value, and solve people’s problems. On page B, users click a CTA to go to page C. On page C, you ask users to pay for your course, and after completing the payment, users go to page D – the thank you page. This is just an example but the funnel can be however you design it.
- To set up a funnel, I have been using this tool and it works like a charm. I would recommend you to try CartFlows to craft a sales funnel.
(9) Your Email Marketing system is in place
- Email Marketing is a goldmine. I have gone through case studies of companies who have made about 40x in ROI through Email Marketing.
- Email Marketing is going to be your biggest asset as once you get people into your email list you can send them as many emails as you want.
- If you have not set up your Email Marketing System yet, my top recommendations are as follows (Note: I have tried all the below systems and they are beautiful in their own way. I could recommend one, but I want to help my readers with as many options as I can):
(10) The webinar system is running in full flow
- Why would an Affiliate Marketer need a webinar system, you may ask. Through webinars, you can educate people about the product, provide value, and solve their problems and doubts.
- You can either conduct a live webinar or share recorded webinars with the people in your email list. Yes, that’s the power of an email list.
- You can send webinar invites to your subscribers, as well. For webinars, I use the tool WebinarKit which gives me the power to play recorded webinars like live ones.
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Conclusion
In this post, I shared with you a checklist that you can use to start your Affiliate Marketing journey. If you are a beginner, this checklist will help you with the tools and tactics you need and if you are experienced, you may check if your Affiliate Marketing business missed something from the list.
Now, it’s your turn. How much did you score? Out of the 10 items in the checklist, how many did you check? Let’s go through the items one-by-one.
- Looking to make passive income
- Passion to change your life
- Want to make money from home
- Want to make money while sleeping
- You are clear about your niche
- You have chosen a product
- You have your personal website
- You have set up the funnel system
- Your Email Marketing system is in place
- The webinar system is running in full flow
What’s your score? Let me know in the comments box below.
Let me go through my checklist. I scored 7 out of 10.
I know it sounds strange that the author of the post scored a 7 on 10 and not a 10 on 10. I can make up facts, but, I am being honest with you. There is always going to be room for improvement, regardless of your experience and skills.
After going through the checklist, I have a clear idea about what I need to work on and implement. If you are missing out on a few elements, please take action and implement the systems.
I know what I need to work on and I hope you got clarity about what you need to work on.
